the Scheldt; and to disconnect the fortress still more completely from
the inhabited portion of Antwerp. Lamentable as may be the prospect,
Antwerp, the mistress of the finest naval station and commercial port in
Europe, is doomed to destruction, if a single gun be directed against
its citadel. It is not possible for its commandant, as a soldier and
a subject, to avoid any and every means of annoying a besieger; and
amongst these, none so ready and effectual, present themselves, as that
of preventing the town from becoming the covert for an assailant. We have
witnessed the deplorable havoc which a few mortars brought upon it in
1830; but how frightful will be the issue when rockets and red-hot shot
come to be poured upon the devoted city. Nay, more,--by opening the
dykes along the Scheldt, a large portion of the western provinces of
Belgium is capable of being inundated; and if this fresh calamity ensue,
as a second resource on the part of the besieged, from the adoption
of which the recognised laws of warfare cannot absolve them, not only
Antwerp will have ceased to exist, but her citadel will rear its head,
a frowning islet, amidst a waste of waters. As to the blockade of the
Scheldt, it will be impotent with regard to distressing the citadel; for
the windings of that stream, as well as of the Maas, at their mouths,
preclude the possibility of effectually staying the Dutch from
communication with it.

* * * * *


THE PLAINT OF CERTAIN CORAL BEADS.


Spoiler of forbidden wealth,
Guarded by the hoary waves!